University of Maryland School of M

usic Presents

THE IM

MIGRANTS I : W

HAT IS AM

ERICA TO YO

U?U

MD W

ind Orchestra

October 5, 2018 . 8pmDEKELBOUM CONCERT HALL

at The Clarice

2 3

MICHAEL VOTTA, JR. has been hailed by critics as “a conductor with the drive and ability to fully relay artistic thoughts” and praised for his “interpretations of definition, precision and most importantly, unmitigated joy.” Ensembles under his direction have received critical acclaim in the United States, Europe and Asia for their “exceptional spirit, verve and precision,” their “sterling examples of innovative programming” and “the kind of artistry that is often thought to be the exclusive purview of top symphonic ensembles.”

He currently serves as Director of Bands at the University of Maryland where he holds the rank of Professor. Under his leadership, the UM Wind Orchestra has been invited to perform at the international conference of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles as well as national and regional conferences of the College Band Directors National Association. UMWO has also performed with major artists such as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, Eighth Blackbird, and the Imani Winds. UMWO has commissioned and premiered numerous works by composers such as Andre Previn, Steven Mackey, Alvin Singleton, and James Syler.

Votta has taught conducting seminars in the US, Israel and Canada, and has guest conducted and lectured throughout the world with organizations including the Beijing Wind Orchestra, the Prague Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, the National Arts Camp at Interlochen, the Midwest Clinic and the Conductors Guild.

His performances have been heard in broadcasts throughout the US, on Austrian National Radio (ÖRF), and Southwest German Television, and have been released internationally on the Primavera label. Numerous major composers including George Crumb, Christopher Rouse, Louis Andriessen, Karel Husa, Olly Wilson, Barbara Kolb, and Warren Benson have praised his performances of their works.

His arrangements and editions for winds have been performed and recorded by university and professional wind ensembles in the US, Europe and Japan. He is also the author and editor of books and articles on wind literature and conducting.

He is currently the President of the Eastern Division of the College Band Directors National Association, and is President-Elect of the Big Ten Band Directors Association. He previously served as Editor of the CBDNA Journal, as a member of the Executive Board of the International Society for the Investigation of Wind Music (IGEB), and on the board of the Conductors Guild.

Before his appointment at Maryland, Votta held conducting positions at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Duke University, Ithaca College, the University of South Florida, Miami University (Ohio) and Hope College.

Votta holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting degree from the Eastman School of Music where he served as Assistant Conductor of the Eastman Wind Ensemble and studied with Donald Hunsberger. A native of Michigan, Votta received his undergraduate training and Master of Music degrees from the University of Michigan, where he studied with H. Robert Reynolds.

As a clarinetist, Votta has performed as a soloist throughout the US and Europe. His solo and chamber music recordings are available on the Partridge and Albany labels.

University of Maryland School of Music presents

THE IMMIGRANTS I : WHAT IS AMERICA TO YOU?University of Maryland Wind Orchestra

Michael Votta Jr., music director

David Wacyk, assistant conductor

Konzertmusik, Op. 41 ............................................................................................................................Paul Hindemith

I. Konzertante Overture II. Sechs Variationen

III. Marsch

Serenade, Op. 7 ............................................................................................................................................Walther Lampe

I. Allegro con GraziaII. Allegro Scherzando

III. AdagioIV. Molto Vivace

INTERMISSION

Septet .....................................................................................................................................................................Paul Hindemith

I. LebhaftII. Intermezzo

III. VariationenIV. IntermezzoV. Fugue

David Wacyk, conductor

Three Comments on War .................................................................................................................. Jan Meyerowitz

I. Chorale Prelude on a Secular MelodyII. Battle Music

III. Epitaph

Millennium Canons ................................................................................................................................................Kevin Puts

ABOUT THE CONDUCTOR

4 5

DAVID WACYK is a candidate for the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Conducting at the University of Maryland where he serves as Assistant Conductor with the UMD Wind Orchestra and UMD Wind Ensemble. In this capacity he also serves as personnel manager for the wind program. Prior to this appointment, David served as Director of Bands at North Harford High School, where he directed instrumental ensembles including concert band, chamber winds, marching band, and jazz ensemble, and taught courses in music theory.

In 2017 David accepted an invitation to present a poster session at the CBDNA National Conference titled “Stravinsky’s Symphonies of Wind Instruments: Toward a New Understanding of Pitch Structure. In 2014 he was invited by the MMEA (Maryland Music Educators Association) to present a performance plus session entitled “Chamber Ensembles: Creating Better Musicians for the Greater Good”. In 2012 David was awarded second place for the American Prize in conducting. From 2009-2015 David was the founding conductor of the Upper Chesapeake Wind Ensemble, a community-based flexible instrumentation group comprised of professional and amateur musicians in northern Maryland.

David holds a Master of Music degree in Conducting from University of Maryland, and a Bachelor of Music Education from Western Michigan University. His primary conducting teachers are Michael Votta, Jim Ross, Jose-Luis Novo, and he has additionally studied with Michael Haithcock, Tim Reynish, Charles Peltz, and Frank Battisti. He maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor and clinician throughout the Maryland region. David resides in Columbia, MD with his wife Laurel, and son Roger.

During Hindemith’s tenure as artistic director, the festival highlighted particular genres and media; specifically those that he felt were under-represented in the world of serious art music.

Hindemith felt that wind music had been unfairly regarded as a musical step-child and, thus, was determined to promote it by featuring wind music, along with mechanical music, at the 1926 festival. Hindemith specifically directed promising composers to the job of writing contemporary music for military band. As part of this festival, Hindemith composed his first work for wind band, the Kozertmusik, op. 41. On July 24, 1926, a complete concert was devoted to four new works for wind band: Hindemith’s Konzertmusik, Krenek’s Three Merry Marches, op. 44, Pepping’s Serenade and Toch’s Spiel, op. 39.

The Konzertmusik, though composed “for amateurs” is of sufficient complexity and difficulty to challenge professional players. The Konzertante-Overture begins with a satirical fanfare, then unfolds a sonata-form-cum-concerto-grosso allegro. The second movement offers six variations of the popular German folk song, Prince, Eugene, the Noble Knight, while exploring the various facets of the ensemble. This work concludes with a parody of a German march, a rather tongue-in-cheek presentation of typical band fare of the early twentieth century. Yet, in the opening measures, it becomes very clear that there isn’t anything ordinary about Hindemith’s presentation. In fact, he musically “thumbs his nose” at band traditionalists who would have criticized him for a contemporary treatment of such a revered musical form. The Konzertmusik, op. 41 makes use of an instrumental ensemble that includes tenorhorns and flugelhorns. It is, in fact, a German military band that has been dressed up in Hindemith’s creative melodies, rhythmic energy and brilliant counterpoint.

Serenade, op. 7Walther LampeBorn: 1872, LeipzigComposed: 1904Duration: 22 minutes

Walter Lampe (1872-1964), was a German pianist, composer, pedagogue, and also worked as an editor for G. Henle Verlag. He studied piano with Clara Schumann and composition with Ivan Knorr and Engelbert Humperdinck. His Serenade for 15 Winds, Op. 7 is a four movement work scored for two flutes, two oboes plus English Horn, 2 clarinets plus bass clarinet, two bassoons plus contrabassoon and four horns in F.

The work was championed by an early American chamber ensemble, the Longy Club of Boston. For the first concert of their 6th season (1905/1906) the club performed this Serenade to close the evening. According to reviewers it required additional players to supplement its smaller core. A critic writes, “This evening concluded with a most satisfying number scored for instruments rarely seen even today…. It is a serenade, by Walther Lampe, in four beautiful movements, every one of which is full of unusual feeling…” [Globe]. Another review draws a connection of this piece to the earlier wind works of Richard Strauss, which would have been quite well known in music critic circles at the

ABOU

T TH

E CO

NDUC

TOR

Konzertmusik Paul HindemithBorn: 1895, Hanau, GermanyComposed: 1926Duration: 15 minutes

The changes in German and Austrian culture in the decade after World War I produced architecture, painting, music and theater that was, in the words of William Bolcom, “dedicated to the total overthrow of the decaying Romanticism that, some held, had fostered that war.” As Arnold Schoenberg , and his students Alban Berg and Anton Webern first expanded then abandoned post-Wagnerian harmony, their music was regarded as irrelevant by the vast majority of concert-goers — most Germans went to hear music in the cabarets, not the concert halls. As in America, jazz was all the rage in Berlin in the 1920s.

The foremost German composer of his generation, Paul Hindemith established his reputation as a first-rate contemporary composer at the second Donaueschingen Festival in 1921, after which he was asked to serve on the organizing committee. Hindemith was convinced that the ever-widening gap between composers and general public could be bridged if composers wrote with a particular purpose and according to prescribed premises, and at Donaueschingen he now had a platform on which to display his anti-Expressionist concept of Gebrauchsmusik(functional music for amateurs).

PROG

RAM

NOT

ESPROGRAM

NOTES

6 7

time, “This Serenade is an interesting work by one who knows his Richard Strauss, but it is original without straining or affectation. It is carefully thought out but spontaneously expressed, and it is never prolix...” [New Music Review].

Today Lampe’s Serenade exists as a unique voice within the large chamber music canon. With its ability to freely express pastoral beauty in the first movement, lilting dance-like wit in the second movement, beautiful reverent song in the third movement, and jaunting excitement in the fourth, it takes its place as an important late Romantic work in the wind repertoire.

SeptetPaul HindemithBorn: 1895, Hanau, GermanyComposed: 1948Duration: 17 minutes

Hindemith composed his Septet in 1948, during a visit to Europe that was largely given over to conducting engagements in England, Germany, and Italy. He later recalled:

I wrote the piece in Taormina in one of the most beautiful gardens anyone could possibly imagine, with the sea at my feet and the snow-capped Aetna in the background. If one believes that one’s surroundings influence the quality of a composition in some indescribable way, then one would expect that only the finest ideas would be found in such a place.

The Septet is cast in five movements, although it is crafted so as to suggest a single, unified span divided into discrete sections. The opening movement, Lebhaft (Lively), is spirited and good humored. Its principal theme, which involves all the woodwinds trilling at once (but not the brasses), is so sarcastic that one might imagine it accompanying a cartoon film. The ensuing Intermezzo:Sehr langsam, frei (Very slow, free), sounds improvisatory, and, the composer’s direction that it should be played freely stretches it further toward the rhapsodic. Nine variations on a lyrical melody, each with a distinct rhythmic character, follow as the third movement. A second brief Intermezzo, as fluid as the first (again Sehr langsam), leads to a finale in which Hindemith melds the scholarly and popular sides of his musical personality. He casts it as a brainy Fugue — indeed, parts of it are a double fugue, with two subjects going on at once — but there’s a twinkle in the composer’s eye. Suddenly the trumpet lets loose with a chunky, four-square phrase of a piece identified as the “Old Bern March,” a tune then taken up and elaborated by other instruments, and even turned into a little fuguetto itself. After the whirlwind has gone on just long enough, Hindemith extinguishes everything with a couple of concluding chords, laughing all the way.

The Septet made rather little splash until four years after its premiere, when it was programmed on an all-Hindemith concert by the New Friends of Music chamber orchestra at New York’s Town Hall, on December 7, 1952. The New York Music Critics Circle named it 1952’s Best New Chamber Work of the Year. It was a curious selection, since the piece had already been premiered four years earlier — but no matter. Gertrud Hindemith wrote to their friend Willi Strecker, head of the Schott publishing firm:

We have no idea what the award really means, but congratulations are raining down on all sides. The Septet is suddenly on the lips of all grocers and fishmongers, who have now admitted us into the ranks of their most important customers.

–Adapted for the NY Philharmonic from James M. Keller’s Chamber Music: A Listener’s Guide (Oxford University Press)

Millennium Canons Kevin PutsMark Spede, Trans. Born: 1972 Composed: 2001Duration: 8 minutes

Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Silent Night, Kevin Puts has had works commissioned and performed by leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists throughout North America, Europe and the Far East. Known for his distinctive and richly colored musical voice, Mr. Puts has received many of today’s most prestigious honors and awards for composition.

Puts has received awards and grants from the American academy in Rome, the Guggenheim Foundation, the American academy of arts and letters, BMI and ASCAP. Since 2006, he has been a member of the composition faculty at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. About this work, the composer states:

I wrote ‘Millennium Canons’ to usher in a new millennium with fanfare, celebration, and lyricism. Its rising textures and melodic counterpoint are almost always created through use of the canon, which also provides rhythmic propulsion at times.

Millennium Canons was commissioned by the Eastman School of Music’s Institute for American Music. The premiere took place with the Boston Pops Orchestra under the direction of Keith Lockhart. The wind setting was commissioned by The University of Texas Wind Ensemble, Jerry Junkin, conductor.

PROG

RAM

NOT

ESPROGRAM

NOTES

Michael Votta, Jr., conductor Luci Disano, Joseph Scott, David Wacyk, graduate assistants

Flute Alix GilbertSelia Myers

Christian Dohler Rodas TJ Wible

Oboe Sarah Balzer

Joshua FaisonElisabeth Plescia

TJ Wagman

Clarinet Nathan Dorsey Cliff Hangarter

Patrick LillHoward Perry

Allison Satterwhite Kenny Wang

Darien Williams

Bass Michael Rittling

Bassoon Mark Liffiton

Monica Panapento Qun Jimmy Ren

Tony Unger

Saxophone Caroline Braus

Matthew ChafferRohan Rajagopalan

Brian Starace

Horn Benjamin Busch

Jack HollandEmerson Miller

Cosette RalowiczKaty Robinson Niklas Schnake

Christine Stinchi

HarpHeidi Sturniolo

Trumpet Carley Barrett Justin Drisdale

Brent FlinchbaughJoseph Fluehr

Dylan Rye

Trombone Jack Burke

Skyler Foster Nathan Reynolds

TubaDavid RaeJisang Lee

PercussionThomas Glowacki

Lauren Floyd John McGovern

Jada Twitty

PianoAlfonso Hernandez

CONNECT WITH UMWO

www.umwindorchestra.com | facebook.com/umwindorchestra

Twitter: @umwindorch | Instagram: @umwindorchUNIV

ERSI

TY O

F M

ARYL

AND

WIN

D OR

CHES

TRA

UMD SCHOOL OF MUSIC: ADMINISTRATION AND STAFF

JASON GEARYDirector

EDWARD MACLARYAssociate Director for Academic Affairs

PATRICK WARFIELDAssociate Director for Graduate Studies and Strategic Initiatives

LORI DeBOYAssociate Director for Administrative Affairs

GREGORY MILLER Interim Associate Director for Graduate Studies and Strategic Initiatives

CRAIG ARNOLDAdvising and Student Services

ROBERT D iLUTISCommunity Engagement

PATRICE SHEFFIELD JACKSONFinance

JENNY LANGAdmissions and Enrollment Management

AARON MULLERProduction & Operations

THEODORE GUERRANTAccompanying

LAURI JOHNSONChoral Administrator

MING LIPiano Technician

HEATHER MUNDWILERAssistant to the Director

JEANNETTE OLIVERBusiness Manager

AARON PAIGEAdmissions Coordinator

ASHLEY POLLARDOpera Manager

JOSHUA THOMPSONGraduate Student Services

MARK WAKEFIELDOrchestra Manager

CRAIG KIERDirector, Maryland Opera Studio

EDWARD MACLARYDirector of Choral Activities

JOSÉ-LUIS NOVOInterim Director of Orchestral Activities

DAVID SALNESSDirector, Chamber Music Activities

CHRIS VADALADirector of Jazz Studies

MICHAEL VOTTADirector of Bands

J. LAWRENCE WITZLEBENCoordinator of World Music Ensembles